Big Idea:
Students complete differentiated worksheets that help them prepare for the upcoming division test.

Today will be a day of working on practicing to get ready for our math test. I was looking for something light, fun and different and decided to play a little game from PBS.kids.org. This game makes us laugh every time we play it. It supports a portion of standard 4.MD.B.4 and serves as a framework for understanding a line plot. While there are not any measurements or fractions in this game, the student needs to practice "eyeballing" a size and put things in order to find the middle length. Send in the Trolls helps students understand the median. Each troll appears in random order and students move the trolls to find the middle one. It exercises the basic idea prior to using fractions and measurements to determine smallest, middle and longest. This game is so funny!

I put this up on the SB and students come up one at a time and move them around. When we check on it, the trolls zoom up in the air and the students always laugh.

Division Test Review 1 & Division Test Review 2 are differentiated practice sheets that represent two diverse entry levels of practice toward mastery. The clock is ticking and other units have to be taught, standards need to be mastered!

The first sheet is for the independent student. These students will be ready to test and just need one more shot at practice. They have mastered their quizzes prior to this and can explain not only how to divide, but why they have chosen different entry points. It gives me a chance to determine if there are any more things I need to cover with these students.

The second sheet is for students who have retaken their quizzes and mastered them at 80% and quite possibly are not ready to take their tests to formally show that they have mastered standards. Confidence is not quite there. I will use this sheet to conference and re-teach. They need support.

I designed the boxes to help them find some structure they do not have to create on their own because drawing straight enough lines isn't working. The word problem is written out step by step. If this works well, I plan to give them more word problems with this type of structure to get them to independently and more fluently solve word problems.

There is just one word problem so that they are not overwhelmed. But, I have written it so that they need to show thinking and explain why they chose their answer. It is rigorous and quality. I just reduced the amount of problems and clarified steps for them.

I allowed the entire class period to work independently with minimal help from me. That way, the next day, we can thoroughly review for the test tomorrow in partners.